My chat with Sandy was brief today. I was kind of
sorry. I enjoy talking with her.
The first customers were 2 girls who bought a German
children's book, which I thought was "Three Little Kittens" but there
were only 2 kittens on the cover and 3 is not zwei, 2 is. So I don't know what the
title of the book was.
A woman bought two mysteries and asked if we accept
donations. I gave her the spiel about donating to charity. She was impressed
to year Logos had donated $40,000 last year, and will be making donations.
I went to look for the Ruth Rendell book that I
accidentally gave to someone a couple of weeks ago and then downloaded for my Kindle,
since I hadn't finished it yet. It was back on the shelf, so I took that as my book
to read today. I had brought my Kindle with me so I could synch to the right page.
A guy wearing a "worms and coffee" shirt came in
and bought a book about war and one about VanGogh.
A family arrived, parents and 2 kids, one a teen, one
younger. I told the kids where to find the children's and young adult books but
neither went there. The older girl and the dad stood at the window looking out, very
bored, while Mom and the younger one looked around. The younger girl looked through
all the craft books. Dad and girl finally went outside. Nobody bought
anything.
Two women, around my age, came in. I can only
describe them as "Davis Dowagers," and I can't really explain what I mean by
that. It's one of those "you know it when you see it" things. One
wore a flowing long culotte skirt with a contrasting top and nicely coordinated jewelry.
Looking at her arms, I decided she was probably a tennis player. I didn't really
notice her friend, except that she was wearing a bracelet like one that I have. It
hung loose on her, and my wrist is too fat to wear it.
Neither woman paid the slightest attention to me, or even
acknowledge my presence, other than to hand me a credit card and sign the receipt.
Kinda the reaction I am used to getting from Davis Dowagers.
A lady, who says she goes on hikes with the Sierra Club was
thrilled to find a book of flower drawings on the bargain table. She says she
wants to get back into botanical drawing and that the book was just perfect...and only $1
at that! I asked her if she knew our friends, who go on Sierra Club hikes, but
she did not. She later came back to check the Religion section and found a thick,
$12.50 book on the history of Christianity. She looked at it for a long time at the
table in front, but ultimately put it back on the shelf.
A tall, thin girl, looking a lot like Kate Micucci, who
plays Lucy, the girlfriend of Raj Koothrappali on The Big Bang Theory came in.
She acted like it too when she shyly handed me a Sci Fi book to ring up for her.
A tall girl came in with a very short friend and both were
looking through the old book sections. Finally she found "a book I can't live
without" (an old book of childhood rhymes).
A man in an electric wheelchair was trying to get in the
front door, so I got up to help him, but he said he preferred to do it himself. It
was easier when I told him that the "PULL" sign on the door was misleading, and
that he could also PUSH the door and that made it easier for him to get the wheelchair in.
He was looking for Carter Brown mysteries, which I guess were written in the 1950s.
In fact Wikipedia tells me that Brown wrote some 322 of them. When I told him I
didn't think we had any, he told me that they were usually set in the English countryside,
as if he thought that might help me help him find some!
A guy who looked a lot like a taller version of our
Brasilian friend Nelson asked if he could read a book at the table. I told him he
could. He read for awhile and finally brought a "History of the Crusades."
When he spoke, he had an accent, though I don't think it was Brasilian.
Another very tall, very thin girl with long straight blonde
hair and black horn-rimmed glasses came in. She was carrying a binder and some other
folders in one arm and looked like a high school girl. I was impressed with her
pants, which were blue but had many pockets, making them look puffy. When her friend
joined her, they were pointing and laughing at the kids' room, and then left without
buying anything.
My friend arrived at 4:25, with the news that a local used
music store (Armadilllo Music) has just expanded into larger quarters and now has a book
section. I joked about losing his business and he said that no, now he'd just have
to visit two book stores each week. He was carrying two books from
Armadillo and bought a Raymond Chandler mystery from me.
A mom and young son arrived. He was probably four,
wearing a Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle t-shirt, baseball cap and some jazzy green rimmed
sunglasses. I think he's been in before. He gave me kind of a mischevious
smile as he left Mom and headed for the kids room. Later he walked out and both
left, without making a purchase though the kid was making some quiet whining noises.
Mom told me that he had spent the afternoon in Grandpa's pool and was exhausted.
I finally finished my Ruth Rendell book at 5:40, so close
to quitting time and since we had almost nobody for an hour, I decided to switch to the
book I was reading on my Kindle.
Just before I left, an old guy with a cane and baseball cap
came in and said "I need something to read." He explained that he was
meeting his daughter at the train station and she had just let him know she was going to
be late, so he wanted a book to keep him company while he waited.
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